To Katie With Love by Erica Lucke Dean (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Please give a warm welcome to author, Erica Lucke Dean!

When I was asked to write a guest post for Reading Between the Wines to promote my new book, To Katie With Love, I decided I’d better start by doing a little research. And how does one research writing a blog that celebrates wine without first having a glass…or two? Of course, those who know me well know I’m not exactly a skilled drinker. I’m the girl who gets tipsy on half a wine cooler, then drunk-dials her ex-husband or her husband’s ex-wife to tell them exactly what they can…well, let’s not go there. But as I started to feel the warm and cozy effects of my cabernet blend, skillfully chosen by my wine snob husband, I began to put myself into the shoes of my main character, Katie, to analyze her thoughts on love, sex, and having too much to drink.

Katie James is so much like me, and yet so far removed. On one hand, she has all of my clumsy tendencies. She trips over air, walks into walls, and falls—both literally and figuratively—far too easily.  Then poor Katie has this social naiveté that I was lucky enough to shed somewhere in my past yet still feel the effects of when I’m in public.  And like me, Katie can’t hold her liquor...especially when confronted with the guy of her dreams.

And boy when this girl dreams, she dreams big!

But my job as a writer isn’t to write my own personality into the story as much as be true to the character I’ve created, and dear Katie doesn’t kiss and tell.  She’s not the girl who gives up all the dirt on being dirty.She doesn’t share those deep, dark naughty thoughts in her narration. Oh, she has dirty thoughts, like his lips turning up in a beautiful smile and kissingherwhile sliding his pants down until she can feel the length of him pressing against her…then grabbingher leg to hitch it up against his hip and, with a deep growl, fillingher completely.

Ahem…is it hot in here, or is that just me?

Katie isn’tnormally the sort of girl to give you the graphic details. Me? I’m the type of girl who has a few drinks and shares everything…vaginal warts and all. I say that only because I’ve never actually had vaginal warts, but I digress (and maybe it’s time I put down this glass of wine).

Basically, writing the perfect sex scene for the characters you’ve created is hard work. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Sex sells.” Be it books, movies, or nighttime TV, let’s face it, you can’t turn on HBO without seeing the deliciously decadent promos for shows like True Blood flashing up on the screen. But writing a sex scene isn’t a “one size fits all” type of scenario. Can we agree that sometimes it just isn’t right for the characters to get down and dirty? I’m all about a nice hot, juicy sex scene, but I think we have to be sure we’re writing it in keeping with the character whose mind we’re hearing on the page.

I think, as a writer, it’s my job to maintain the authenticity of the character I’m speaking through…or rather, the character speaking through me. Because at the end of the day, it’s Katie’s voice I’m sharing, not mine. I can only hope you like her as much as I do.

And I really hope I don’t wake up a raging headache tomorrow morning. This has been fun and all, but I think I need to lay off the wine for a while.

Banker Katie James has a serious thing for romance novels. She’d almost rather settle for a fictional boyfriend than risk her heart on a flesh-and-blood man. Besides, the only real guy she’s remotely interested in is her rich, unattainable client, the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.

Looking less like the ultra-conservative man she knows and more like a drop-dead sexy character from one of her books, Cooper crashes Katie’s 29th birthday party. But one too many drinks lands Katie in uncharted territory… Cooper’s bedroom!

Drunk on love, Katie dives headfirst into the relationship only to discover that Cooper is keeping secrets… dangerous ones. As if things couldn’t get worse, her meddling mother makes a surprise visit, digging up a whole new set of problems.

Who would have guessed having an assassin for a boyfriend would be the least of her worries?

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